Staring Is Dangerous
by TacoAya
Summary: Roma finds out just how dangerous staring can be. Oneshot.


_Because honestly, we don't have enough of these floating around the internet. Fair warning now, there will be OC and Canon/OC ships present in this story. If this is not to your liking, you're more than welcome to press that back button on the top right corner of your screen. For those of you who are still here, please enjoy! This will be a small one shot, as I want to test the waters before I start with something longer._

Eye contact is a dangerous, dangerous thing. But lovely.

Oh, so lovely.

Especially with Sephiroth.

It was accidental, of course. Roma was still trying to accustom herself to his presence in her life, and it wasn't as though she actively sought out opportunities for a moment of deep soul seeking into each other's eyes. But God help her, each and every time she glanced up into his eyes, she felt as though he stole away just a bit of her soul. And this time was no different. It wasn't as though she had tripped and he caught her, or that she dropped something and he was courteous enough to try and help her retrieve it,. It was purely a mundane moment when she looked up at him from across the table as she brought her mug to her lips for a sip of her coffee. He looked at her in that same moment.

It was a feeling, a feeling spurred by looking into his mako-infused eyes. It was one that made her pause with the warmed coffee miracle right at the brim, it was one that froze her right in her spot. She couldn't help it. Sephiroth's eyes themselves were perfection. They were perfect enough to always leave her paralysed for a moment or two, at least. So clear, so dazzling, framed by the most luscious and lengthy lashes that would make most girls green with envy. But the beauty of them were a mere bonus. What really captivated her was how he looked at her.

His eyes were calculating, insightful, and seemed to see right through her with such transparency that she couldn't help but feel helplessly exposed and naked. No thought, no emotion felt safely concealed in her mind. He stared at her as though she were an open book, and that there was nothing she could possibly keep hidden from him. And yet, it wasn't a feeling she loathed. Not at all.

At times, she enjoyed feeling so exposed and open to this man. Roma grew tired of having to feel as though she needed to walk around with that barrier she created around herself. The one that kept her from letting people in, to let people see who she was beyond what she allowed them to see. There was no facade with Sephiroth. There was no hiding from Sephiroth. With one brief glance, she was sure that he was capable of knowing so much more who she truly was than the people who had spent their entire lives "knowing" her. It was strangely comforting, that he could be capable of seeing her insecurities, her fears, her vulnerabilities, and yet he did not choose to condemn her for those weaknesses.

"Roma."

His voice startled her from her daze, and she snapped back to attention with a soft gasp, her body jerking back into a state of animation. Some of the coffee had spilt a little from having been sitting right on the lip of the mug and it landed right on her lap. Her cheeks burned a bright red of embarrassment as she felt the coffee seep through the thick material of her sweats and onto the skin of her thigh. Her state of embarrassment was quickly and momentarily blindsided by the pain of the steaming hot coffee burning her skin. Roma jumped a little, nearly stumbling out of her seat as she let out a sharp, brief, and yet pained yelp.

She looked down at herself, now unable to focus on that man (a witness to her never ending acts of clumsiness). There was a considerable sized stain forming in the fibres of her gray colored sweatpants, and she'd no doubt find a welt of equal proportions on her leg. She let out a hissed expletive as she set the coffee down on her table, now completely focused on the burning on her leg.

Shit.

"I, uh." Roma forced herself to remember the presence of her guest, Sephiroth. He was standing at this point, his eyes focused on her leg as his lips pursed a little. If she didn't know better, she'd say that he actually looked a little concerned. But as quickly as the thought appeared in her mind, a wry smirk appeared on his lips and his eyes flickered up towards her. The expression was purely smug.

"Should I not make eye contact with you anymore? You seemed… disproportionately distracted." He questioned with a hint of a chuckle leaking into his voice. His eyes gleamed a little, glittering at the opportunity presented to show that goddamned antagonistic side of him. Roma blused fiercely and she opened her mouth to defend herself. Sephiroth didn't even give her the chance to stammer out a single word.

"You were staring so intensely." He commented casually, with a smirk that spoke to the volumes at how much he was enjoying this. He always got a kick at how flustered she could become, and the shades of red that her face managed to achieve never failed to amuse. He walked around the table towards her, approaching her from the back. Roma continued to try to stammer out her defence. He had leaned down over her shoulder the moment he found himself directly behind her. Sephiroth could clearly feel her nervous energy, how it washed over him like ocean waves. He smirked even more. "It was getting creepy, even for me."

It was like hammering the final nail in her coffin. She just sucked in one harsh breath, and just held it. She didn't dare turn her head to look in his direction, she wouldn't even chance a sideways glance towards him. The word, "mortified" wasn't enough to convey the levels of embarrassment that she was experiencing in that moment. Didn't even come close. She cleared her throat, finally allowing herself to breathe as she just stepped a couple paces forward, trying to achieve for herself some space away from him.

"I… I apologize. I wasn't aware." she mumbled softly as the stinging in her leg reminded her of its presence. She grunted softly before she glanced over towards him briefly, her eyes daring not to look up past his nose at this point. "I need to… uh." Words were lost to her as she just felt herself overwhelmed with a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts, all were quite self condemning. "I need to go and check this.."

Sephiroth stared at her. She didn't need to look into his eyes to know that he was evaluating her. Roma knew each and every time she was to subject of his scrutiny. It always felt as though the air around her was sparser, and there was a weight that would land squarely on her shoulders. It was an intense sensation, one that she found hard and exceedingly difficult to escape from. Roma felt trapped.

"You are hurt, then." Not a question, a statement. Sephiroth stepped closer to her, his lips pursed once again. He had been so amused by the fact that she found herself lost in his eyes again that he neglected to acknowledge the fact that she could've been seriously hurt. Maybe not seriously, but it didn't keep Sephiroth from expressing concern for her. His amusement died down from the moment that she didn't respond to his quips the way she anticipated.

Roma dared a glance up at him. It was brief, lasting only about a second or two before she glanced back down once again. Her face was still painfully red. "Sort of.. I guess…" She mumbled softly as he came to a stop before her, effectively making her feel entirely too small. "It was a cup of fresh brewed coffee."

Even as she spoke, the initial jolt of pain had now shifted into a constant stinging, her flesh screaming at her after being so thoroughly drenched with the steaming coffee. Ice, and maybe a cool rag, she'd more than likely slather the entirety of her thighs with aloe vera. Anything to ease the stinging.

Sephiroth's brows furrowed slightly as he lifted his hand. He frequently didn't know what to make of the small female, this woman that he had no choice but the depend on for the last several weeks. He certainly didn't know how to comfort the woman, or if she needed his comforting in the first place. He just stood there, in a bit of a loss for what to do. Roma sucked in a breath.

"I'm going to go and get this taken care of." She glanced up towards him once again, notedly refusing eye contact with him this time before she turned and began to make her room, presumably. Sephiroth didn't have anything to say.

He just let her walk off in peace.


End file.
